TURKISH Cypriot parties and organisations yesterday announced they were
preparing an action plan to force Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to
resign.

The leader of the Republican Turkish Party, Mehmet Ali Talat, yesterday
repeated his call for Denktash's resignation: "We believe Denktash does not
represent the interests of the Turkish Cypriots, and not only at this
specific time.

"We were aware of this before; Denktash had to support the interests of the
Turkish Cypriots, but unfortunately he did not," Talat said.

"We believe we have to do it (force him to resign) or else he won't defend
the interests of the Turkish Cypriots."

Talat - who was summoned for urgent consultations in Ankara at the weekend -
said Denktash's stance also damaged the interests of Turkey and revealed
that the opposition's measures would include "protests and many other
things".

Talat revealed that an attempt would be made through 'parliament' to
relieve Denktash from his duties as negotiator, despite the Turkish Cypriot
leader holding a majority in the assembly.

"The tragic irony is that the international community is disenchanted with
Denktash's stance, but our state is not recognised internationally.

"By recognising Denktash as the leader of the community, they give him more
power," Talat said.

Talat warned the UN initiative risked losing its momentum in the aftermath
of Copenhagen, despite the plan still being on the negotiating table.

[02] Government delays announcement of aid package for Turkish Cypriots

By George Psyllides

THE Government said yesterday it was delaying the announcement of a package
of measures to support the Turkish Cypriot community after "certain
factors" emerged that required further consultation, Foreign Minister
Yiannakis Cassoulides said yesterday.

Speaking after a meeting with President Glafcos Clerides, Cassoulides said
he did not expect the government to publicise the measures any time soon
because of issues that had emerged since the package was promised in
Copenhagen last Friday.

The measures are expected to focus mainly on the free movement of products
and support for independent organisations and educational centres.

"We have to consider various factors, including some necessary co-operation
with the European Commission, some fears expressed by leaders of the
Turkish Cypriot community, and I am not sure that we will proceed to
announce the measures any time soon," Cassoulides said.

He added: "We will need some more consultation time before we decide."

The subcommittee set up to study the measures convened yesterday morning
for two hours.

Chief EU negotiator George Vassiliou said after the meeting that the
measures were important and within legal frameworks.

Reports said the measures were finalised yesterday, though concerns were
expressed on how much to give the Turkish Cypriots without running the risk
of recognition of the breakaway state.

Sources said some members of the subcommittee feared the measures could be
counterproductive.

Apart from Cassoulides and Vassiliou, the subcommittee was made up of
Finance Minister Takis Klerides, Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou,
Attorney-general Alecos Markides and other government officials.

FORMER House president Alexis Galanos said yesterday the Greek Cypriot side
should not accept Rauf Denktash as Turkish Cypriot negotiator, saying it
would be a waste of time, and could be dangerous.

Denktash's popularity in the north has been in freefall since the European
Union summit in Copenhagen, at which Cyprus secured an invitation to join
the bloc.

Ordinary Turkish Cypriots blame Denktash for not agreeing on a settlement
of the Cyprus problem, thus depriving the people of the chance to join the
EU.

Galanos suggested the Greek Cypriot side should raise the issue of Denktash
for two main reasons.

"He does not want a solution and it seems that right now he does not have
the people's mandate," Galanos said.

The former House president said the Greek Cypriot side should make it clear
that it could not negotiate with Denktash unless his mandate was renewed or
Ankara changed its policy on Cyprus.

Galanos said that even if there was an agreement with Denktash, he did not
believe the transition would be smooth.

"It would be dangerous and more or less condemned," Galanos said.

He added that the Greek Cypriot side should negotiate the United Nations
plan but without Dektash, whom he described as unreliable.

Galanos said the plan could have been better had it been submitted after
Copenhagen and wondered if the Greek Cypriot side could have prevented it
from being tabled when it did - just before the EU summit.

Galanos said the summit had been a game of "high-level poker" and that
Cyprus had come under levels of blackmail that should not be accepted from
now on.

He said the Greek Cypriot side had come out on top because it was always
safe to count on Turkish intransigence.

He repeated that if the plan had been submitted after Copenhagen, it could
have been better for the Greek Cypriot side, which gained an advantage
after the EU summit.

"Whatever we do now, we will find the plan in front of us," Galanos said.

He added it would be difficult to improve the plan, but said Cyprus would
have a problem if it tried to avoid a solution.

He nevertheless added that the Greek Cypriot side should engage in tougher
negotiations after Copenhagen.

A 23-YEAR-old Turkish Cypriot refused treatment in Turkey after he was
beaten by his officer during military service has gone back to the north
where he is recovering after a kidney transplant at the Paraskevaidion
Surgical and Transplant Foundation two weeks ago.

Dervan Tureray was released from the foundation on Monday, following a
successful transplant and returned back to the occupied areas, an official
at the centre said yesterday.

The Cyprus Mail reported the incident last week, after Turkish Cypriot
opposition paper Afrika highlighted Tureray's plight to find a kidney,
following the injury several years ago. The paper said the Turkish
commander of his army unit in the north had thrashed him with a "justice
stick", because he was late returning from leave. The beating was so severe
he lost function of one of his kidneys, the paper said. But when Tureray
sought to have a transplant in Turkey he was told his mother could not
serve as a donor as she was not a match.

The Paraskevaidion Foundation did not know any of the intricate details of
the case.

"We do not know any such details," said the source. "All we know is his
doctors in the north sent him to the general hospital here and he was then
referred to us." This was the second operation the Foundation had carried
out on a Turkish Cypriot and others were on the waiting list, she said.

"We do not discriminate between nationalities or ethnicities," the official
stressed.

Besides, as a Turkish Cypriot with Cypriot nationality, the patient was
eligible for free medical care.

"He did not pay for the operation. It is paid for by the government," she
said.

Tureray appeared to be in good psychological condition when he left for
home on Monday. The five-hour procedure was very successful and surgeons
were pleased with the results. Although there is always a fear of organ
rejection, the youth was recuperating well, she said.

"We just spoke to his brother today, because Tureray does not speak any
English, and he is fine. Initially he will come in twice a week for
checkups, then in due course this will be extended to once a week, once
every fortnight, once a month and finally once every two months." He will
have to have these checkups to ensure his kidney is functioning properly
for the rest of his life, she said.

[05] You have to stand up for your rights: the woman who took on the
strikers

By Stefanos Evripidou

"I will fight for my rights and for justice." The words of battling
shopkeeper, Eleni Kondiadou, who led a group of angry merchants to force an
end to the 'plastic' money strike that was crippling their Christmas sales.

But Kondiadou, looking back on the day when she and her friends "knocked
heads together" at banking trade union headquarters in Nicosia, insists
that she has never done anything like it before.

The group of shopkeepers led by Kondiadou unexpectedly dropped in at the
headquarters of the bank employees' trade union ETYK on Monday and forced
employers and union leaders to hammer out a deal so people could get back
to shopping and they could get on with business. Their demands were met and
a solution was found within two hours. JCC employees returned to work
yesterday while banks allowed plastic card transactions again.

The sequence of events that sparked off the astonishing protest began three
weeks ago when ETYK called a strike at JCC Payment Systems over the re-
hiring of an information technology specialist. The dispute caused huge
business and shopping problems, eventually halting all credit and debit
card transactions at midnight on Friday and creating a backlog of
unprocessed transactions reaching £40 million. Consumers were panicking,
the economy was suffering and shopkeepers were feeling the brunt.

The impulsive decision of shopkeepers to take matters into their own hands
was the underlying factor that ended the strike and put the economy back on
its feet. Headed by Kondiadou, the team of protesters refused to leave the
building until union leader, Loizos Hadjicostis and JCC head, Evdokimos
Xenofondos shook on a deal to end the strike which Labour Minister Andreas
Moushiouttas heard and approved on the other end of a mobile phone.

The decision to take action had come a day earlier when Kondiadou decided
she had had enough. The multi-store she owns and runs in Nicosia, Caterways,
was feeling the pinch of the bank card freeze.

"I was very tired and found it unjust what was happening. I had to fight
for my rights," she said. "We had started preparations for Christmas from
September. A whole team of us made plans, orders, decorations, Christmas
programmes, organised marketing, trained staff, the lot. This is the most
important time of the year for businesses."

Kondiadou, a mother of two, said she gave up precious time with her
children to arrange everything. "When we stayed open last weekend and
realised the effect of the strike on the market, I knew I had to do
something," she said.

The following Sunday, Kondiadou decided to make calls to concerned
shopkeepers, tourism agents, and ordinary consumers to take action. The
next morning at 10am, a group of 50-odd merchants were at the doors of the
union headquarters, startling their leader who was forced to make an
impromptu conference.

"Luckily, I had the support of everyone. It was a team effort and nobody
had any doubts. Everybody was affected. I don't think the parties involved
realised how serious the problem was or that people were experiencing a
real crisis which was going to get worse."

The defiant store owner, despite taking such action for the first time,
insists that she will always fight for her rights and for justice. "When
people don't fight for their rights or react to injustice, they don't give
the message to those that run the place that everything's not OK," said
Kondiadou.

She compared it to running a shop. "I made this shop and thought it was OK
but when I heard other peoples' opinions, I changed it. The feedback from
my clients helped. You need that in society too."

Asked if she had feared her unplanned actions might fail, she replied
sternly, "I was not going to leave until something was done. And those
involved also understood that the problem had to be solved." Kondiadou
maintains that the successful mobilisation of shopkeepers was totally
spontaneous. "There were no union members, party officials or
representatives. Just us, not one or two of us, but all of us together
sitting in that conference room."

Regarding her success, the end of the strike and the resumption of bank
card transactions, the rookie negotiator smiles as people start shopping
again. "People are breathing again and you can actually feel the Christmas
spirit now. People are less worried about their money and can use their
cards which have been widely distributed lately. the pulse of Christmas is
back."

When someone takes such decisive and dynamic action to resolve a
confrontation was having untold consequences, the question begs. a life in
politics? She chuckles before responding, "No to politics, I just want my
job to go well."

CYPRUS will need more civil servants to provide greater protection for
citizens and the environment as it joins the European Union, Law
Commissioner and head of EU affairs at the Legal Services, Leda Koursoumba,
said yesterday.

Koursoumba told the Cyprus Mail that 840 laws, regulations and
administrative orders had been prepared to implement the mass of
legislation passed down from Brussels. Most of the legislation has already
passed through parliament while the number of new employees required to
deal with the increased workload is set out in this year's budget at the
Finance Ministry, said Koursoumba. The whole load of primary and secondary
legislation prepared under the acquis communautaire will probably be
enacted by March 2003, she added.

"When there is a new function in the acquis communautaire, we try to
accommodate it within the existing department structures. But occasionally
we have to create a new structure to accommodate the new competences," said
Koursoumba.

Departments where existing staff could not accommodate new obligations
include the sections of the Health, Commerce, Labour and Agriculture
ministries.

Kouroumba said concerns over increasing an already large public sector
should not shadow the advantages of the acquis.

She listed some of the benefits of the huge volume of laws implemented.
"Increased health protection and checks from maternal services and other
health departments, greater protection for the consumer and more price
checks by the Commerce Ministry, a more comprehensive social policy on
employment, including protection for women and children, remuneration, and
conditions of work."

For the Agriculture Ministry, the commissioner said many obligations would
be introduced concerning environmental issues and the number of controls
from veterinary services.

"Many existing staff have already been organised to deal with the bulk of
legislation requirements, and some have gone to Brussels to be trained. But
the European Commission itself has told us that we need to expand various
administrative sectors to accommodate all the competences," she said.

THE FINANCE Ministry has approved an agreement with employees of the
Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC), averting strike action in the new
year.

Union leaders and EAC administration had signed their 2001-2003 budget
agreement in July, sending it to the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Tourism for the required approval.

But in October, the Finance Ministry determined there were some changes
that needed to be made to the agreement concerning allocation of funds,
said EAC spokesman Costas Gavrielides.

"It seems that the Ministry of Finance had some new ideas about the budget,
" Gavrielides said.

Leaders from the four unions representing EAC employees, EPOPAI, SIDIKEK,
SEPAIK and SYBAIK, met with EAC administrators Monday to urge them to take
the measures necessary to have the budget approved.

A meeting between administration, the unions and the Finance Minister
yesterday morning finally resulted in the finalisation of the budget.

"This should have been approved long ago; it's long overdue," Gavrielides
said.

The agreement will be retroactively effective as of January 1, 2001. All
employees who worked at EAC between that date and the present time will
receive the negotiated salary increases from the last two years,
Gavrielides said.

In addition to wage increases, the agreement allocates more money towards
company cultural activities and reorganises elements of the company's
structure. The agreement also calls for a cost-cutting 10 per cent
reduction in the number of professional engineers employed by the EAC, from
300 to 270, Gavrielides said.

"The changes all have one purpose: to make the Electricity Authority more
efficient," Gavrielides said.

The agreement will be up for renegotiation at the end of 2003.

More than 2,000 people are employed by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus.
By the end of 2003 the number of consumers connected to the EAC network is
expected to reach 428,000, compared to 333,850 at the end of 1995.

ADVOCATES for foreign workers are keeping a close watch on the Interior
Ministry this week, as it proposes measures for limiting the number of non-
Europeans working in Cyprus.

Cyprus currently has the highest proportion of foreign workers compared to
any other country in Europe, with one in 10 workers coming from abroad. The
workers, one-third of whom are employed as housemaids, are primarily from
Sri Lanka and the Philippines, followed by Bulgarians, Greeks, Russians and
Romanians.

A ministerial committee convened on Monday to discuss the rise in numbers
of foreigners employed on the island. More than 30,000 foreigners work in
Cyprus, compared to only 15,000 in 1995.

During its discussion, the committee decided to reduce the maximum duration
of foreign workers' residence to five years from six. The new duration is
consistent with proposed EU directives, which state that migrant workers
that stay for more than five years must be granted long-term residency and
work permits.

Doros Polycarpou, of the Immigration Support Action Group, said the
Interior Ministry should consider the benefits of encouraging foreign
workers to stay longer, particularly since many of them were involved in a
child-care capacity.

"Long-term people can cope better with their duties," he said. "It's also
better for the family and the children to have stability and consistency."

Interior Minister Andreas Panayiotou said the government planned to change
the employment criteria for housemaids, so as gradually to reduce the
numbers of foreigners employed in that capacity. Among other things, the
committee decided to raise housemaids' monthly remuneration to £180 from
£150.

The committee's decisions will be submitted to the Cabinet, Panayiotou
said.

With regard to employment strategies, Panayiotou said priority would be
given to the Cypriot labour force, followed by citizens of EU countries,
citizens of EU-candidate countries, then to citizens of other countries.

Polycarpou criticized this strategy, calling it "blatantly racist."

"According to European law, all Europeans are equal - you cannot put them
after Cypriots," he said. "And this strategy openly states a preference for
Cypriots, then white Europeans, then Asians and Africans, which creates
racial divisions"

Charis Kyriakides, former legal advisor to the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot
properties, said the Interior Minister's announcement reflected recent
efforts to reach out to Turkish Cypriot workers.

"They are working on plans for the easiest ways of employing Turkish
Cypriots," Kyriakides said. "We already have this phenomenon concerning the
building industry, where we have hundreds of Turkish Cypriots working. And
with the EU asking for higher pay for foreigners, why should people employ
a foreigner if it costs as much as employing a Cypriot?"

Polycarpou, however, said that Turkish Cypriots should not be considered a
new source of cheap labour.

"We should not see the Turkish Cypriots as they were in the past, doing the
less desirable jobs," he said. "But I have the feeling that this is the
idea."

Polycarpou added that even an influx of Turkish Cypriot labour in the near
future would not provide a long-term solution to the Cypriot labour
shortage.

"In a few years, the north part of the country is going to have a very good
development, and they are going to need migrant forces as well," he said.

CONSUMERS should think twice before venturing out to shop for basic
provisions, the Consumers Association warned yesterday, saying that with
prices fluctuating more than 40 per cent from one supermarket to another,
consumers were being taken for a ride and would be wise to consider
shopping in cheaper stores.

The warning came following yesterday's publication of a recent study by
Intercollege's Research and Development centre. The project aimed to
pinpoint what, if any, price differences existed from one local supermarket
to another over a sample of 48 products. The study was carried out over
four days, December 4-9, and examined 15 supermarkets in Nicosia, eight in
Limassol, seven in Larnaca and six in Paphos.

"We were astounded by the results," said Consumers Association President
Petros Markou, with Nicosia turning out to be the least expensive place to
shop for groceries, followed by Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos.

However, Nicosia had the highest fluctuations in prices: "In Nicosia, 13
products fluctuated in price by over 40 per cent, in Limassol 10 and
Larnaca and Paphos five," he said.

For example, in Nicosia the price of a bag of 45 gram Lays crisps
fluctuated up to 90 per cent from one shop to another, pork chops up to
117.17 per cent and one kilo of potatoes up to 150 per cent. In Limassol
the price of pork chops fluctuated by 210.94 per cent, greenhouse cucumbers
by 87.5 per cent and Diet 7-Up and Coca Cola by 48.81 per cent. In Larnaca
pork chops had a 75 per cent fluctuation and one kilo of tomatoes varied up
to 66.67 per cent. In Paphos, Nescafé fluctuated by 109.68 per cent and
Greek coffee by 62.5 per cent.

The researchers split the different prices into three categories: the 0-20
per cent difference range, the 20-40 per cent band and the over 40 per cent
group.

In Nicosia and Limassol, 23 of the 48 products were in the first category,
but in Larnaca and Paphos these numbers reached 38 and 36 respectively.

In the second group, 12 products in Nicosia had a 20-40 per cent difference
in price; these included deodorant, cognac and insect repellent. Limassol
had 15 products in this group, including margarine, flour and eggs; Larnaca
had five and Paphos six. Thirteen products varied from shop to shop by over
40 per cent in Nicosia; they included toothpaste, panadol and oranges;
there were 10 products in Limassol, including baby shampoo, mincemeat and
chicken; and five in both Larnaca and Paphos.

"Although only five out of 48 products in Paphos had a 40 per cent
difference in price, this might be because all the prices are higher than
the average there anyway and so they are forced to keep financial
differences smaller," said Markou.

And while there were fluctuations between individual products, it was
difficult to establish a trend: "We are talking about a difference in cents,
" an Intercollege source told the Cyprus Mail. "In other words, overall,
once the basket of goods has been bought and paid for one supermarket might
be £4 more expensive than another." In essence, it would depend on the
individual consumer, and whether he wanted to spend a few pounds more in
one supermarket over another, he said.

Nonetheless the ball was in consumers' court, if they felt prices were very
high.

"Shoppers have the power not to go and shop in a particular supermarket. If
they boycott a place, it'll force prices down and improve competition,"
said Markou. "There should be laws protecting consumers from these
outrageous differences in price and yet nothing is being done."